Learning From Literature

Leave Only Footprints by Conor Knighton

Cover of Leave Only Footprints by Conor Knighton

Leave Only Footprints: My Acadia-To-Zion Journey Through Every National Park by Conor Knighton is a travel book published in 2020.

Conor Knighton sets out to visit every national park in the United States within a single year, beginning at Acadia National Park on New Year’s Day – where the first sunrise touches the continental U.S. – and concluding at sunset on December 31st in the spot where the last ray of light leaves the mainland. Rather than following a strict chronology or geography, Knighton focuses on the deeper threads that connect us to nature itself.

Along the way, Knighton blends personal stories with vivid descriptions of the parks’ landscapes and rich histories, including how these environments formed. The book is as much a celebration of America’s breathtaking natural beauty as it is a call to protect these wonders for future generations. 

NOTE : All pictures included are personally taken 🙂

Purchase the book by clicking this link!

Enjoy!

Table of Contents

Prologue (Badlands)
  • Flat plains suddenly give way to dramatic, unexpected formations
  • Formed by layers of silt, sand, and clay deposited by prehistoric seas over tens of millions of years
  • Gray, spiky mounds mixed with lush green grass
Sunrise (Acadia)
  • On January 1st, Cadillac Mountain in Acadia is the first place in the contiguous U.S. to see the sunrise
  • 80% of people visit in summer – winter shifts to ice fishing / skiing as most shuts down
  • The hike to the summit was dark, windy, and numbingly cold
  • Knighton watched the first sunrise of the year from the summit
Water (Hot Springs, Biscayne)
  • Was once known as the “Valley of the Vapors,” with geothermal springs reaching over 140°F
  • Established in 1832, it was the first federally protected land in the U.S.
  • Once a booming health destination offering over a million baths per year, most bathhouses have shut down
  • Biscayne is 95% water
  • Maritime Heritage Trail is an underwater collection of historic shipwrecks – now thriving habitats colonized by coral, fish, lobsters, and eels
  • Signs make it feel like a hiking trail – except entirely beneath the sea
Animals (Everglades, Channel Islands, Pinnacles, Death Valley)
  • Invasive pythons wreak havoc on the ecosystem, yet native alligator and crocodile populations have rebounded from near extinction
  • It’s the only place on Earth where alligators and crocodiles coexist in the wild
  • “River of Grass” – a slow-moving sheet of water vital to the region’s ecological health
  • The island fox (rarely over 4 pounds) rebounded from just 15 left to hundreds, the fastest mammal recovery under the Endangered Species Act
  • Human actions set off chains of ecological disruption and recovery
  • Condors – North America’s largest flying bird and one of the most endangered
  • Lead poisoning from bullet fragments in gut piles remains their biggest threat
  • Around 300 condors left in the US
  • In Devil’s Hole, the pupfish – one-inch, bright blue – lives in a single desert aquifer
  • Holds water over 92°F and deeper than anyone has ever reached
  • In 2013, only 35 pupfish were left, nearly wiped out by groundwater pumping
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God (Yosemite, Capitol Reef, Lake Clark)
  • John Muir believed nature’s cathedrals – valleys and granite walls – revealed the divine more powerfully than any man-made church
  • Knighton reflects that he thought more about God during his year in the parks than in all his years attending services
  • Capitol Reef’s white sandstone domes earned it its name for resembling the U.S. Capitol
  • Petroglyphs etched into canyon walls suggest that long before churches, people were expressing spiritual beliefs through nature
  • Lake Clark is accessible only by plane or boat
  • Operation Heal Our Patriots brings veterans for six days of emotional and spiritual restoration in wild solitude
Sound (Great Sand Dunes, Katmai)
  • The dunes appear surreal, set against snowcapped Rocky Mountains and forests
  • Formed by a volcanic eruption 35 million years ago, the dunes constantly reshape with the wind
  • It’s one of the quietest places in the U.S., where sand absorbs sound
  • Katmai is home to some of the largest brown bears in the world, drawn by migrating sockeye salmon
  • Bears gather in groups, fishing as salmon leap through the air to avoid becoming lunch
Trees (Joshua Tree, Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Redwood)
  • Early Mormon settlers are said to have named the Joshua tree, likening its arms to the prophet Joshua reaching toward heaven
  • Joshua trees thrive in harsh desert conditions – resilience
  • General Sherman, the world’s largest living tree, stands 274.9 feet tall and 36 feet wide
  • Sequoias are fire-resistant and nearly indestructible – only humans pose a true threat
  • Big Stump Grove is a haunting reminder of past logging, with massive stumps scattered like grave markers
  • Redwood trees have shallow but wide root systems that intertwine to support another
  • Only 10% of California’s original redwoods remain due to aggressive logging
  • “Witness trees” – having silently observed centuries of human history
Mystery (Crater Lake, Congaree)
  • Thousands of fireflies pulse in unison during two mysterious summer weeks
  • Scientists still have no idea why or how the fireflies coordinate their blinking behavior
  • The park’s bald cypress trees have bizarre knobby roots called “knees,” for reasons not fully understood
  • In 1853, gold hunters in Oregon discovered a shockingly blue lake atop Mount Mazama
  • Though known to local tribes, this was the first written account of the deepest lake in America
  • “The Old Man” – a log that floats perfectly upright for over a century
  • After rangers once tied him down, a blizzard hit in AUGUST – and stopped only when they released the log
  • Crater Lake’s shocking blue color comes from its extreme clarity
Borders (Big Bend, American Samoa)
  • Boquillas, Mexico didn’t get electricity until 2015, but Americans have been crossing the river for decades
  • After 9/11, crossings were shut down, requiring a 240-mile detour
  • At its deepest point, the Rio Grande is only waist-high – yet it marks an international border…
  • American Samoa lies over 7,000 miles from Washington, D.C. – but it’s still U.S. soil
  • Though born on U.S. land, people from American Samoa are not granted citizenship
  • To become citizens, Samoans must apply as immigrants from other countries
  • The national park spans three islands protecting rainforest, reefs, and coastline
  • Land is leased from local chiefs, making it the only park not owned by the government
Volcanoes (Lassen Volcanic, Hawaii Volcanoes, Haleakalā)
  • Lassen contains all four types of volcanoes found on Earth
  • Bumpass Hell is filled with boiling pools, mud pots, and sulfur steam vents
  • Big Boiler, one of the hottest fumaroles in the world, releases steam at 322°F
  • Kilauea has been erupting almost continuously over the past century, boiling seawater into steam
  • Nowhere else can you stand on land that didn’t exist the year before
  • Haleakalā volcano is 10,000 feet above sea level and offers a summit above the clouds – giving one of the most breathtaking sunrises on Earth
Ice (Glacier Bay, Glacier, Kenai Fjords, Wrangell-St. Elias)
  • Glacier Bay features giant tidewater glaciers with massive blue walls stretching a mile wide and hundreds of feet high
  • Glacier National Park has about 25 small terrestrial glaciers that are rapidly retreating and predicted to vanish by 2030
  • In 1850, Glacier National Park had roughly 150 glaciers, but massive ice loss occurred due to climate change
  • Kenai Fjords shows clear signs of glacier retreat with historical markers indicating where the glacier used to be since the 1800s
  • The Exit Glacier is melting faster each year, retreating hundreds of feet annually
  • Wrangell-St. Elias is the largest US park, larger than Yellowstone, Yosemite, Everglades, Rocky Mountain, Big Bend, Great Smoky Mountains, Zion, Shenandoah, Crater Lake, and Grand Canyon combined
  • It contains glaciers covering 149 square miles, but warming is causing woody plants to invade, affecting wildlife like Dall sheep
People (Arches, Bryce Canyon, Zion)
  • 4.3 million people visited Zion in 2016
  • Peak season vehicle traffic is banned and replaced by a shuttle system
  • Angels Landing has dangerous switchbacks, with nine fatal falls since 2004
  • Bryce Canyon faces damage from millions walking off-trail, eroding fragile grounds
  • Staffing shortages and funding gaps limit the park’s ability to protect the landscape
  • Arches is home to over 2,000 arches
  • The park relies heavily on visitors’ responsible behavior to protect its delicate features
Home (Mesa Verde, Great Smoky Mountains)
  • Mesa Verde was the first to preserve human-made heritage, established in 1906
  • The Pueblo people settled in southwestern Colorado around 550, eventually building cliff dwellings in the 1100s
  • Cliff Palace housed about 300 people
  • The dwellings were only occupied for 100 years before inhabitants mysteriously vanished
  • In the 1940s, hundreds of families were forcibly removed from their homes in the Great Smoky Mountains by the government
  • Cherokee burial mounds exist in the Smokies but are often on private land
Canyons (Grand Canyon, Black Canyon of the Gunnison)
  • The Grand Canyon is about 6 million years old, carved by the Colorado River
  • Visitors spend less than six hours on average
  • The layers of rock represent hundreds of millions of years of Earth’s history
  • Black Canyon of the Gunnison’s walls are nearly 2 billion years old, some of the oldest exposed rocks on Earth
  • The canyon is very narrow and deep, only 40 feet wide at its narrowest with dark and shadowy walls
Forgiveness (Dry Tortugas, Petrified Forest)
  • Dry Tortugas is 68 miles west of Key West, closer to Cuba than the U.S.
  • Fort Jefferson, built from imported bricks, served as a massive military prison
  • Access is by daily catamaran from Key West
  • Petrified Forest preserves one of the world’s most researched Triassic dinosaur fossil sites
  • Massive floods buried logs in sediment and volcanic ash, turning wood into petrified stone over 200 million years ago
  • Theft of petrified wood destroys its scientific value since it can’t be studied once moved
Caves (Wind Cave, Carlsbad Caverns, Mammoth Cave)
  • Wind Cave is the world’s sixth longest cave – some portions are 300 million years old
  • It has rare boxwork formations – calcite strands crisscross the ceiling
  • Carlsbad Caverns’ oldest sections about 6 million years old
  • Discovered by a curious teenager named Jim White in 1898, though Native peoples knew of it long before
  • Exploration continues today, with new passages found in 2012
  • Mammoth Cave is the longest cave system in the world, with over 400 miles explored
  • It was historically mined for saltpeter in gunpowder, especially during the War of 1812
  • Markings etched in candle smoke can be found from since the 1800s
Light (Great Basin, Saguaro)
  • The Basin region is a unique watershed where all water evaporates internally, never reaching the ocean
  • It’s less than 300 miles from the Vegas Strip and is one of the darkest places in the lower 48 states
  • 2/3+ of Americans live in places where the Milky Way is no longer visible due to light pollution
  • Saguaro is famous for its saguaro cacti
  • The park’s roads close at sunset to protect the environment, and the desert comes alive
  • Saguaros are incredibly expensive – $100 per foot
Travelers (Theodore Roosevelt, Voyageurs, Denali)
  • Roosevelt is only U.S. national park named after a person and is famous for its abundant wildlife
  • The bison population rebounded from around just 300
  • Voyageurs is centered on water with about 40% of its area covered by nearly 900 islands, with all campsites accessible only by boat
  • Denali features the tallest peak in North America
  • Husky sled dogs have been part of the park since 1921 and remain vital
  • Denali maintains kennels and carefully breeds litters each summer
Love (Canyonlands, North Cascades)
  • Canyonlands is divided into four distinct districts: Island in the Sky, The Needles, Rivers, and The Maze
  • North Cascades is especially wild and foggy; Knighton meets two girls
  • “National Park” relationship – something rare, special, inspiring, and worth protecting
Food (Gates of the Arctic, Kobuk Valley, Cuyahoga Valley)
  • Gates of the Arctic has no roads or marked trails for 8.5 million acres north of Arctic Circle
  • The Western Arctic Caribou herd migrates each fall, with over 200,000 animals
  • Anaktuvuk Pass, home to 300 people, was settled in the 1950s by semi-nomadic Iñupiat
  • Kobuk Valley is even more remote with no roads, trails, visitor centers, or park offices
  • To reach the park, Knighton flew by seaplane, then traveled along the Kobuk River to enter the park
  • Cuyahoga Valley is an urban-adjacent park between Cleveland and Akron
  • The area was once agricultural but became heavily polluted; now it’s revitalized with a focus on sustainable farming
Mountains (Guadalupe Mountains, Rocky Mountain)
  • Guadalupe Peak is the highest point in Texas
  • The U.S. has fewer than 100 mountains over 14,000 feet, with over half in Colorado
  • Rocky Mountain National Park has only one “fourteener”: Longs Peak
Diversity (Mount Rainer, Shenandoah)
  • Mount Rainier’s stunning beauty is matched by its danger, as it’s an active stratovolcano
  • Visitors can only see Mount Rainier about 25% of the time due to weather conditions
  • 94% of the park’s one million visitors are white
  • In 2009, only 1% of Yosemite’s visitors were Black
  • Historical segregation in parks like Shenandoah still affects perceptions today
  • Recent studies show park visitors remain about 92% white, underscoring persistent disparities
Disconnecting (Isle Royale, Olympic, Virgin Islands)
  • In Lake Superior, Isle Royale is only accessible by boat or seaplane
  • There is no cell service or Wi-Fi throughout the park
  • Olympic contains glacier-capped peaks to lush rainforests to rugged coastlines
  • Parts are so dense and damp, human sounds seem to disappear
  • Virgin Islands National Park in the Caribbean offers tropical disconnection
  • Over 60% of the island is protected, and much is only accessible by foot or boat
Sunset (Grand Teton, Yellowstone)
  • During a snowstorm, Knighton’s car slid off the road into a snowbank
  • Two women and a man stopped to help get the car unstuck
  • He reflected on how many people cluster in a small part of the country despite its vastness
  • Yellowstone, America’s first national park, is surprisingly inaccessible for half the year due to heavy winter snowfall
  • In winter, visitors rely on snow coaches or snowmobiles
  • The grand finale was the last sunset in the continental U.S. at Point Reyes National Seashore
Epilogue (Gateway Arch, Indiana Dunes, White Sands, New River Gorge)

He revisited dozens of U.S. national parks and explored the four newest parks:

  • Gateway Arch
  • Indiana Dunes
  • White Sands
  • New River Gorge

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